The Sea Emperor
by AaronCottrell97
Summary: One night, while sleeping in Knapford Sheds, Thomas wakes up to discover Emily snoring in her sleep, of which he finds adorable. While Emily is fast asleep, she finds herself in a strange dream where she meets a relative of her old driver, a relative she never knew existed. Was this merely a dream, or was it something more than that? Originally titled "Lovely Sounds and New Dreams"


It had been another fair day's work on Sodor. Thomas was only busy with his Branch Line run and nothing more. Emily, on the other hand had a massive amount of work beyond what she usually did. Henry and James were having trouble getting started that day and she was chosen to cover their work besides her own. As such, she was much busier and working much harder, making her quite tired by that evening. She was happy to find Thomas waiting for her at the yards and was even happier to be offered a night at Knapford Sheds. While Emily was quite tired, Thomas did not feel so tired himself.

In Knapford Sheds, the two engines settled down again.

"Well, Emily," said Thomas. "I know you've had a long day, compared to my easy day, but hope you're not too tired to…have some fun."

Emily perked up. "Ooh…of course not, Tommy," she said. "I may be tired…but I'm still excited enough to please your lips for a while…"

Thomas smiled back and kissed her little nose. "Shall we?"

"Oh, yes, Thomas," giggled Emily. "Kiss me…please?"

Thomas smiled and pressed his lips to her cheek, kissing it gently with little dots from his tongue, making Emily gasp and giggle.

"Oh, Thomas!" she gasped. "You're always so sweet with your kisses."

"So are you, my angel," whispered Thomas as he reached out and nibbled her other cheek. Emily giggled more, making Thomas smile happily at her joy. He softly kissed her several times on both cheeks, on her nose and to her lips, feeling lost in a dreamlike state until she took control briefly.

She suddenly nibbled his cheek, making him gasp this time, followed by a loving lick from her along his cheek. Then Emily kissed Thomas right on his nose, making him chuckle. After that, they both leaned in and softly kissed to their lips, letting their lips move very slowly together and letting themselves bask warmly in such comfort and peace together.

After a while, Emily yawned deeply, feeling all-too ready to sleep. But Thomas still wasn't so tired.

"Well, that was lovely, Thomas," said Emily. "But now, we should be asleep."

"I wish I could be, Emily," said Thomas. "But with my easy day, I'm not that tired."

"Please try, Thomas," said Emily. "You'll need it…" And she yawned again. This told Thomas that he'd have to try.

"Alright," he whispered. "I'll try, just for you." He winked to her, making her smile.

"Sweet dreams, Emily." he whispered.

"Sweet dreams, Thomas." And the two engines fell peacefully asleep.

For about half an hour, nothing happened. But then, sometime later, Thomas suddenly woke up to a particular sound…a sound he had never heard before in his life. He listened closely…he definitely knew it was snoring. He looked around in the darkness of the shed. It sounded like it was close by. Then he heard a slight whistle and felt a warm feeling blow gently across his face.

Thomas looked and realized that it was Emily snoring quietly and gently, but instead of being annoyed at being woken up, he was most surprised. He had heard such sound from Gordon, Annie and Clarabel, Cranky, Mavis and Henry before, but never Emily...he thought it was the cutest sound she ever made…even cuter than her yawn. Thomas watched dearly as she snored again. Her lips opened slightly and her nose shook ever-so slightly, then she whistled quietly before snoring again. Thomas thought his heart would melt, it was so cute. As Emily whistled once more before snoring again, Thomas decided to speak up.

"Emily…Emily? Wake up." he said. Emily moaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"Something woke me." explained Thomas. "…a noise that I have never heard before...it was you…snoring." After mentioning the sound, Emily's expression changed from drowsy to fully awake and slightly embarrassed. "Oh, Thomas. I'm so sorry..." she said with some shame.

"No, Emily. It's alright. I wasn't angry. I thought it sounded beautiful, and really cute," said Thomas. Emily blushed.

"Oh…um, thank you. I always sleep in silence, like most others do, but today, I had just come back from very hard work. I must have been sleepier than I thought. You may actually remember that's what I did after James tricked Henry with the Flying Kipper..."

Thomas was still in awe at what he was hearing just a little time ago as he remembered being in too deep a sleep to hear Emily when she taught James that little lesson back then, and as such he had forgotten about it for the most part.

After a minute or two, he said, "Emily, I didn't have much work today myself and I feel a little restless. I know my sleep-whistle helps you relax at night…do you think maybe...you could help me relax with your…?"

Emily touched her nose to Thomas as he finished. "Even though I like peaceful nights, just any gentle, peaceful sound might help me tonight."

"Shh. I know, Thomas." whispered Emily as she moved closer and very gently kissed his lips. "I'm very grateful that you still sleep-whistle for me whenever you can…I actually prefer being a silent sleeper like always…but I can help you relax tonight if you like." she said lovingly.

Thomas smiled contently. "I'd love that, sweetie." he whispered and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Goodnight." They whispered together. They closed their eyes and fell asleep again. As she promised, Emily started snoring softly again. Thomas smiled happily as he listened to her beautiful snoring drifting him to sleep. Before that though, he softly kissed her cheek as she whistled out and whispered, "Sweet Dreams, Emily. I love you."

In Emily's lovely hold, he knew that he would cherish this rare treat as much as he could. Some hours later, Thomas was in a deep sleep and Emily's snoring had stopped…for she was having a dream. One she had never had before…

 _It was a late night, out in the middle of the ocean. There were patches of fog every few yards on the flat water and the moon was shining brightly everywhere._

 _Out on the ocean, Emily was floating silently on a rail raft, secured with a firm rope. She had no idea what she was doing here or how she got out here, and she felt excited, jumpy and a little frightened all at once. It was like when Thomas floated off from the ship to the Mainland and he ended up on Misty Island. She had no idea when or even if she'd be found and brought to the nearest land to safety…but then something happened._

 _Suddenly, she heard a droning rumble in the distance, making her heart jump with alert…when suddenly, the moonlight was obscured by a huge sail, showing through the fog. Emily looked up and gasped. Then the calm water suddenly burst into a noisy whitecap as a big ship like Cap'n Calles' ship tore through the water and Emily and her raft were suddenly caught by a large crane arm and hauled up on deck. Behind a set of rails for an engine to settle on._

 _Emily was most surprised, but felt much safer being on a ship. It had a wooden deck and tall masts, just like Cap'n Calles' ship, only the sails were deep green, like her paintwork. She suddenly noticed one crate beside her and saw it was open. She could see the top of a file about the ship's information with two pictures. She saw the first few lines of information._

 _The first line was the ship's name…the "Sea Emperor." The picture beside it was of a deep green ship, almost like her paintwork with deep green sails. Emily thought that name fit perfectly for such an elegant ship._

 _The second line was the captain's name. "Captain David Rider." The picture beside the name showed a young man with long black hair and a sharp expression._

 _The last few lines Emily could read were some of his credentials. The credentials read that he was a young Navy member himself for six years, working on the sea all the time and was eventually given a sailing ship of his very own as a gift for very brave, loyal and persistent service that no one else working alongside him showed. But after his years of service, he kept busy on the sea, finding his own business and almost never being with anyone else in the family._

 _When Emily saw the name "Rider," something within her stirred. When she was back on the Great Northern Railway, her previous driver carried the same last name. But the first name was different. That made Emily wonder…did her original driver become a father? Was he a brother?_

 _She began to look all around the ship with a sense of eeriness and a little fear as she waited for any signs of sound or movement. Then she heard footsteps from ahead of her. She looked and saw a silhouette of a young man appear under the upper deck's shadow._

 _"Who…who's there?" she asked anxiously._

 _"Emily…what have you done?" said the silhouette. The voice sounded like a young man who had seen a lot and been through a lot on sea._

 _"I…I was lost. Who exactly are you?" asked Emily._

 _"Look at me, Stirling," said the voice. The silhouette stepped into the light…just like the picture Emily saw, it was none other than Captain David._

 _He was indeed young man with long black hair and a sharp face. He seemed like he was in his mid 20's. But Emily also saw plenty of details she did not expect. He did not look like a navy member at all, given that he no longer served them. He was wearing a purple shirt and black sailing coat that reached down to his knees, followed by black pants and boots. And mounted over his right shoulder was a buckle with a sword hanging down by his left side. It was a naval cutlass with a silver guard and gold lining on the handle. Emily assumed it was another trinket for his services. She decided to seek the help she was after._

 _"David…" she said. "How do you know my name?"_

 _"I'm your original driver's son, of course," said the captain. "I've been hearing some stories about you and Thomas…and about some of your adventures on Sodor…"_

 _Emily's heart stood still for a moment. Her original driver really had a son…and she never knew. She had never even seen anything of his sort back on the Great Northern Railway._

 _"Where am I?" she asked._

 _"We're arriving at Brendam Docks," he said. Suddenly, as the Docks came into view and the ship docked beside the rails, the walls of the ship filled with voices of the crew._

 _David knew what this meant. Perhaps they wouldn't understand. "They know you're here. Get home to Thomas," he ordered Emily._

 _"What?" she asked. "I just met you!"_

 _"They won't understand," said David. "And you belong with Thomas." He pulled a lever that began to lower a short rail bridge at the back of the ship. "Now do as I say and get off the ship and back to your railway."_

 _"No!" Emily snapped. At that, David drew his sword and slashed the raft's rope loose, freeing Emily from the raft and making her slide onto the rail beneath it._

 _"Leave now! Before it's too late," David demanded._

 _"I won't!" refused Emily. "I've barely known you! Not even when I was on the Northern Railway and I belonged to your father! And if I must leave now…you should come with me!"_

 _David re-sheathed his sword and turned his eyes to the file in the open crate. "Don't you see I'm bound to a life of work at sea?"_

 _"Hang your work at sea!" Emily blurted out. "I think I know a way to give you a new start in life…with us on Sodor!"_

 _"Emily…no," said David, knowing what she was bringing up._

 _"I remember having your father as my driver!" said Emily. "That means you could have a chance with me as well! Besides, life on Sodor is much more enjoyable than being a sailor on trackless, dangerous seas! The Fat Controller would surely be pleased to welcome you, and I think Thomas would be interested in meeting you!"_

 _David stepped forward, looking touched, but sad too. He climbed onto Emily's running plate and hugged her, his arms holding onto her smokebox, feeling his heart wrench with conflict. "Emily…I may be a civilized man…but since Sailor John was a navy member too, I fear I could never find any friends on Sodor."_

 _"I found YOU," Emily whimpered. Hearing that sad voice made David's heart wrench even more._

 _"My work at sea is ironclad," said David. "And I would not want to be caught between my fellow workers and employers and their disagreeable behaviour."_

 _"Like when I was caught between Donald and Douglas?" asked Emily. "They promised not to treat me poorly again. Perhaps you could come to an arrangement yourself, like I did with those brothers of mine." David suddenly became serious and even vengeful as he stepped down from her running plate._

 _"You stay away from those Scotsmen! Leave the sea forever!" he hissed. "You need Thomas and he needs you! You can't act as someone interfering with my sea life!"_

 _"I'm not acting through interference! I'm acting like a friend offering you a chance! I want you to come home!" implored Emily. "Please! Come with me!" But at that point, the rail bridge lowered all the way and was lined up with the docks. Emily would have to leave now that her rail was lined up._

 _"Emily…I'm sorry," David said gravely. "I'm a man of the sea and nothing more. I'm afraid my bond to ocean work will not be over anytime soon." He tore something off from around his neck. It was a silver charm of an angel and a sailboat._

 _"This is my fate. You must let me go," said David. He gave the charm to Emily, placing it around her funnel. He then touched her face and a smile curved his lip. Emily stared back at him with shining eyes._

 _"I love you, angel," he said._

 _He stepped back and the engine and man kept their eyes focused on each other's gaze as Emily began to reverse off the ship and onto the port of the docks. Then at the last moment, Emily was back on Sodor and watching the Sea Emperor and its captain sailing away again and out of sight._

 _When the Sea Emperor disappeared, Emily huffed slowly back across the island, all the way to Tidmouth Sheds to settle for the night…_

Emily woke up and saw Thomas still asleep with her in Knapford Sheds. She thought about what she had just dreamt and wondered to herself if it really was true. Perhaps she'd find out something about this little vision and what it could mean. She fell asleep again and touched her face to Thomas. But only in a few days, Thomas would suddenly find himself on a very different path than he usually trod upon every day with his work, duties and his time with Emily. Very soon, he'd be taking his first big journey beyond Sodor.

* * *

Wasn't this a surprise?! Sure as hell was for me! Last second stories for the win. Apparently, according to Jeremy, this is inspired by the opening of "Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales," when Henry Turner finds his father Will Turner and tells him how he can be free from his ship using the Trident Poseidon, but Will doesn't believe the tales...I can't comment on any of this because I've not seen "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" or any "Pirates of the Caribbean" films besides the first one.

In case none of this made any sense, this David Rider character is going to eventually appear again after the whole Sailor John ordeal is over and done with. And yes, he is the son of Emily's original driver, who will be introduced later in *Wave of Nostalgia*, where he will play a 'big' role later on. But yeah folks, just as it says in the last sentence, next time we're going into "Journey Beyond Sodor"...but I'm not adapting all of it, I'm only focusing on a few parts of it, cause I don't want it to be the same as every other special I've covered. Until then, feel free to review and I'll see you all later.


End file.
